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Connect the World
Trump Signs Stimulus Bill After Benefits Lapse For Millions; South Korea Detects Variant From UK Travelers; Israel Ramps Up Vaccination As Third Lockdown Begins; EU Member States Endorse Post-Brexit Trade Deal; Lockdowns Heighten Risks Of Forced Marriage, Violence; Coronavirus Pandemic Causes Global Shutdown. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired December 28, 2020 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HALA GORANI, CNN HOST: A U.S. government shutdown narrowly averted today after President Donald Trump signs a massive spending and Coronavirus
relief bill.
Also this hour, vaccinations begin across Europe as cases of a new COVID variant continue to emerge, and a Chinese journalist who tried to tell the
world about the Coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan is now being sentenced two years in jail.
I'm Hala Gorani. Welcome to "Connect the World." A lot ahead in the United States is where we start. President Donald Trump is once again backing on
his Florida golf course right now after he finally signed a massive $2.3 trillion Coronavirus relief and government spending bill. His signature
meant narrowly avoiding a government shutdown.
The president was holding out for an increase in direct payment to Americans which Democrats wanted but most of his fellow Republicans
resisted. But by waiting until Sunday night to sign the bill after spending the day golfing in Florida, Mr. Trump allowed the benefits of millions of
Americans to lapse.
The benefits will kick back in after the New Year, but for millions of people facing mounting bills and waiting in food lines over the holidays,
just one week of missed benefits could be disastrous. CNN's Boris Sanchez has more.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A new Coronavirus relief package has now been signed. President Trump finally signing the new relief bill coupled
with a new spending bill on Sunday night, narrowly avoiding a government shutdown. Congress passed the bill last week, and it was flown to Mar-a-
Lago for the president to sign on Christmas Eve.
But Trump refused claiming the amount of money allotted for Americans in need was too low and objecting to some bill line items. While millions
waited for Trump's decision, the president was seen golfing throughout the Christmas weekend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R-IL): Right now we're at a point where people are left out in the dark but to play this whole switcheroo game I don't get the
point unless it's just to create chaos and show power and be upset because you lost the election. Otherwise I don't understand it?
SANCHEZ (voice over): On Saturday night the president allowed nearly 12 million American unemployment benefits to lapse under two different federal
unemployment programs. By signing this current bill the benefits are reinstating and extending until March but since Trump did not sign the bill
before Saturday's deadlines people will most likely not receive benefits for the last week of the year.
REP. ADAM SMITH (D-WA): It points up that his limitations as a president. He really doesn't pay much attention to the details of the legislation that
he is working on. He worked at the impact of that House on people or he would have signed this in the first place.
SANCHEZ (VOICE OVERR): The Coronavirus relief bill totals over $900 billion and includes $600 stimulus checks for eligible Americans as well as aid for
small businesses and schools. The eviction moratorium is also extended. Trump was mostly on the shrines during negotiations for this bill, but his
advisers, including Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, played a big role in the negotiations.
BERNIE SANDERS, U.S. SENATE INDEPENDENT: Everybody assumed that Mnuchin was representing the White House, and that was the assumption that everybody
had and suddenly because we have an extraordinary narcissist, pathologically narcissistic in the White House he said, well, yes, I know
there were intense negotiations, but you know what, I've now decided that I'm going to jump into the game and I want $2,000.
SANCHEZ (voice over): President Trump claims he only signed the bill after receiving reassurances from congress that law enforcement will take up
measures to get more stimulus money to Americans, a point that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has not publicly acknowledged.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I understand he wants to be remembered for advocating for big checks, but remembered for chaos and misery and erratic behavior if
he allows this to expire.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: That was Boris Sanchez reporting. Let's bring in CNN Political Analyst Julian Zelizer Historian and Professor at Princeton University.
Julian, do you buy what the president was saying and how he was justifying his delay in signing this legislation that he was holding out for a bigger
payment to ordinary Americans suffering economically because of the drives pandemic?
JULIAN ZELIZER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, there's not much evidence to support that. The House Democrats had supported a higher number. They
passed a bill at a higher number many months ago, and the president stayed out of it and he didn't really push for that.
[11:05:00]
ZELIZER: Before the election he still had leverage on Senate Republicans so if he cared about the checks that were the time to put pressure on Senator
McConnell. This was more about chaos and making some kind of statement in his parting days.
GORANI: So why the 180 then?
ZELIZER: I don't know exactly, and it's always hard to figure that out with President Trump. It's difficult to decipher. I do think there was part of
him in, you know, the final part of his presidency who wanted to be seen is at champion of higher checks for Americans, but just saying it doesn't make
it come true. What a president has to do is to get it in legislation and he didn't do that.
GORANI: Now Biden is coming in. He's got his work cut out for him. I mean, potentially a huge recession next year, a Coronavirus pandemic that is
still not at all under control. Who will Americans blame next year, will they blame the mismanagement or the perceived mismanagement of the Trump
Administration or will they lay the blame at Joe Biden's doorstep, do you think?
ZELIZER: Well, it's easy to see how President-Elect Biden could end up getting the blame as well. If this go poorly the vaccine roll out is not
done well and the economy is not stimulated six, seven months from now, Americans will be thinking of the president who is in office rather than
the president who left office.
That's just how it works. At the same time Biden has an opportunity, if he can handle this well, if he can get the vaccine rollout going, if the
economy by the summer could be normalizing and starting to revive, then people will give him immense credit and he'll have perhaps a second 100
days to try to get other legislation through.
GORANI: Yeah. And what do you make now so far of how the Biden Administration has or how Joe Biden who he has appointed to top cabinet
posts, I mean, it is kind of, you know, a return to an old establishment group of technocrats in some cases. What do you make of his -- of his picks
so far?
ZELIZER: Yeah. It's about experience over excitement. I think it's same promise of the campaign in many ways that he will just try to normalize
what the presidency looks like so he's bringing in people he's worked, people whole have had a lot of experience in Washington who are not
necessarily going to excite the most progressive members of the party, and so that's the bet he's making. This is about stability and normalization
rather than some new bold direction for the country.
GORANI: You know my colleague Jake Tapper was yesterday on "Reliable Sources" with Brian Stelter and when he was asked by Brian how you will
cover Donald Trump, he said I'll cover him like I cover any former president.
The difference though here with Trump is that he is still seen as the leader of this movement in the United States, more than 70 million
Americans wanted four more years of Donald Trump, and because he's an agitator on Twitter and in other ways and he's refusing to concede still
and to accept defeat, he could still be a very potent political force unlike other former presidents.
Do you agree with that, and if you do, what impact could that have in terms of how the political landscape will be shaped in America going forward?
ZELIZER: Yeah. I think that's absolutely right. I do think if President Trump decides not to fade from the political world and focus on business or
his personal life, he still will be a pretty formidable figure. He'll be a very influential persona in the Republican Party so it will be difficult to
cover him the way you usually cover presidents who finish their term.
They are usually pretty quiet, occasionally make some speeches or like Jimmy Carter they focus on something outside of electoral politics. Trump
might be right in the mix either running again in 2024 or just being an instigator and an insurgent. So I think they'll have -- we'll have to cover
him as part of the political battle.
GORANI: And or his kids, Julian? I mean, you never know what Ivanka has planned or his two eldest sons? They are in the conversation, you know,
consistently, almost on a daily basis.
ZELIZER: No, absolutely. A little bit like the Bush family. When President George H.W. Bush finished his term, we soon after heard about his son who
became president, and it's not inconceivable that in addition to Donald Trump, the children, some of them or all of them become part of Republican
politics.
[11:10:00]
ZELIZER: So I think we're going to have to cover him in fact in a very different way.
GORANI: Julian Zelizer, thanks very much of Princeton University. Always a pleasure talking to you it, and have a great end of the year a great New
Year.
ZELIZER: Thank you.
GORANI: Let's talk about the COVID pandemic. Europe's hopes -- and there you have it, signaling the beginning of our coverage there. The Europe's
hopes of a continent are now turning into medical history. A colossal COVID-19 vaccination program is under way across the EU with enough doses
to immunize nearly 450 million people twice over so the numbers are there.
The doses are there potentially. This is as British regulators prepare to make a decision on AstraZeneca's vaccine. Salma Abdelaziz is in London with
more. Let's first start with this AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine. When will we hear whether or not it will be approved for use in Britain?
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER: Hala, it should just be a matter of days that British regulators will be set to approve it. We already know that
this could roll out as early as January 4th so a lot of excitement there about this, and, of course, this is the home-grown vaccine so a lot of
excitement here, right, made in the UK, made at Oxford University.
Now there's been some debate about its efficacy. In preliminary trials it was shown to be 70 percent effective but the researchers who developed this
say they can increase that efficacy with a magical formula. What that's formula with a second dose rather than being full does if it's a half dose
the scientist say the efficacy goes up to about 90 percent putting it on par with Pfizer and BioNTech.
And those are the advantages to you. It's cheap, only costs about $4, same as your morning latte and it does not need that special refrigeration
capacity those extra cold temperatures that the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine needed. And this could not come soon enough as you know we're dealing with
a variant here in London and other affected areas that it is more transmissible that's cause a spike in Coronavirus cases.
That variants has also been detected now in the EU where there is a mass vaccination rollout program that started this weekend as well so a lot of
hope and anticipation around these vaccines. But at the same time authorities having to balance that with reminding everyone to follow the
rules, follow the restrictions. This is a very limited portion of the population that will be getting these vaccines so everyone still has to
remain vigilant, Hala?
GORANI: Right. That variant detected in France, in South Korea as well, and if this AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine is approved and rolled out, how much
will that speed up the vaccination effort nationally in a country like the United Kingdom?
ABDELAZIZ: It could have a very big impact. Again, this is why people are excited. The vaccine made right here at Oxford University. The government
according to reports plans on vaccinating 2 million people in just 14 days time initially so that could really, really make a dent in the impact of
getting people vaccinated.
But again, the priority is on care homes, on the elderly, on health care workers. For the wider population the rules and restrictions will remain in
place and actually right now, of course, we're in lockdown in London essentially under these tier four rules. Those rules are expected to be
expanded this week to cover more areas so, yes, vaccine rolling out.
Yes, another vaccine which means more doses and more people getting vaccinated but it's not enough yet. We're still far from that idea of herd
immunity, Hala. Everyone has to keep following the rules.
GORANI: Absolutely. Salma Abdelaziz thanks very much for that, and I was posting on Instagram a preview of the program, and I told you on the social
media platform that I actually imported my details, my age. I have no underlying health conditions thankfully, and it's an unofficial vaccine
predictor and it told me that I could expect to be vaccinated in August or September of 2021 so we're not there yet.
There's news on the vaccine front from South America. Argentina is going to start vaccinating its citizens Tuesday with Russia's Sputnik vaccine. It
received an initial shipment of 300,000 doses last week. Argentina will become the fourth Latin American country to use COVID vaccines joining
Mexico, Chile and Costa Rica.
To Asia now and South Korea says it has detected that new COVID variant in three visitors from London. They are now under quarantine. They were from
the same family and arrived in the country on Tuesday. Meantime, Beijing is cancelling New Year's Eve events which included a concert and light show.
Japan is taking measures to contain the spread of the COVID variant. Selena Wang is in Tokyo with more on how the government is responding there.
[11:15:00]
SELENA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Japan is banning entry of foreign nationals until the end of January after finding several new cases of the new
potentially more contagious COVID-19 variant. Under this new measure Japanese citizens as well as foreign residents can still enter the country
as can business people and students that are from countries that have travel agreements with Japan.
Before this Japan had been slowly opening its border, Japan has had a relatively relaxed approach to COVID-19. It never had a strict lockdown,
but it did have one of the world's most strict travel curbs. At one point Japan had effectively banned entry from more than 150 countries.
The government has really been struggling to balance COVID-19 prevention with reviving the economy and preparing for the Olympics. In fact, up until
this week the Japanese government had been encouraging people to go out and travel and eat out at restaurants.
The government is also working on developing a tracking app using GPS to try to prevent the spread of COVID-19. They are planning to roll this
before the Olympics. This is according to a government minister.
The government official said that they would require all visitors to install this mobile app that would track their most of the once inside
Japan. Now Japan is currently dealing with daily high record numbers of COVID-19 and the medical system is becoming further strained. Selena Wang,
CNN, Tokyo.
GORANI: Thank you, Selena. As China fights to control the virus itself, it's also fighting to control the narrative of it how the COVID story is
told. It has jailed yet another independent journalist. Zhang Zhan was arrested according to one of her lawyers for picking quarrels and provoking
trouble. She has been sentenced to four years in prison. Let get straight out to our Senior International Correspondent Ivan Watson with more on the
case. Ivan?
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hala, this is just a testament to how dangerous it is to challenge the Chinese government's
narrative when it comes to the Coronavirus, for example. Zhang Zhan sentenced as you just said to four years in prison.
There was an awful lot of police outside the courthouse in Shanghai where she was sentenced earlier today. She first got in trouble because this
former lawyer had traveled from Shanghai on her own dime to the Chinese City of Wuhan back in February and recalled that at that time, and it's
kind of hard to imagine today, Wuhan was the world's biggest hot spot for Coronavirus.
The government was imposing a draconian lockdown to try to contain the disease which, of course, spread around the world and has killed people
around the world, and she was posting on social media reports from there, videos on various social media platforms.
And I think we can show you an excerpt of one of her videos from a hospital in Wuhan where you see patients in March being treated in the crowded
hallways of that hospital. She started getting in trouble in the months afterwards, being detained and arrested for ten-day periods, always accused
of this same crime, picking quarrels and provoking trouble and according to an indictment finally detained in May and has been in custody since then.
The defense attorney who met with her in custody earlier this month said that she had been on hunger strike and described a pretty startling scene
saying that her arms were bound to his sides and that she had a feeding tube in her throat and nasal passage. She was being force fed by Chinese
authorities and actually appeared in court today, the lawyer says, in a wheelchair.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry insists that it respects the rights, freedom of express of all Chinese citizens. Well, the record has shown that there
is very little tolerance for deviating from the government line.
At least three other Chinese citizen journalists have gone missing who would also posted about Wuhan and recall back to one of the first Chinese
doctors who tried to sound the alarm about Coronavirus back in December in Wuhan, an Ophthalmologist named Li Wen Yang, he was reprimanded by Chinese
police accused of rumor mongering at the early days of the pandemic and then died after contracting the virus in February, Hala?
GOTANI: Mm-hmm. Ivan Watson thanks very much, and I suspect that authorities have blacked out CNN's feed in China which they have a tendency
to do when we speak about subjects like this and topics like this.
[11:20:00]
GORANI: Thanks very much, Ivan Watson. There's no clear motive yet for a suicide bombing in downtown Nashville, Tennessee on Christmas morning. Take
a look at this new surveillance video that captures the moment the explosive detonated in a parked RV. You can see the force of the blast, and
three people were rounded and more than 40 buildings damage.
The Mayor says police who had been alerted to this suspicious vehicle quickly knocked on doors nearby safely evacuating residents. A nearby
merchant described his disbelief at this callous act.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETER GIBSON, OWNER, PRIDE AND GLORY TATTOO: I pulled up in my -- in my car, and it was parked in the spot that I always park in which was right in
front of the shop and I was really upset about that just for no reason, just being -- just kind of salty to someone who was in my spot. I don't
really know what to make of it. I just after all of this you know I wish I could have done something sooner, which I could have known sooner but who
would have ever known.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Authorities have identified this bomber as Anthony Quinn Warner. He died in the explosion making him a suicide bomber. He was not on law
enforcement's radar for any reason. You're watching "Connect the World" live today from London.
Still ahead, Israel now in its third Coronavirus lockdown, why the Prime Minister believes this lockdown will be country's last?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: Israel is now in its third Coronavirus lockdown. It means most people have to stay within one kilometer of their homes with several
exceptions including grocery shopping, going to the doctor, for instance.
It's a similar picture in other countries around the world. Schools remain open for certain grades. Israel is currently in the midst of an aggressive
vaccination campaign. Elliott Gotkine joins me from Tel Aviv with more. How many people so far have been vaccinated Elliott?
ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: Hala, just shy of 400,000. There was an extra 100,000 on Sunday bringing the total up to just shy of 400,000. And
according to our -- data which is basically Oxford University which tracks may be things relating to the virus, Israel is number one in the world in
terms of vaccinations per 100 people something that was deeply tweeted out by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
And of course the back drop of this is that Israel is now in its third lockdown and that the number of daily Coronavirus cases is around about
3,500 so the idea that the lockdown, of course, is to bring that number down and with the vaccination campaign in full swing the hope is that, of
course, this will be the very last lockdown and that, well, within a couple of months or so perhaps that Israel may be able to return to normal.
[11:25:00]
GORANI: All right. Well, that is certainly the hope. Thanks very much Elliott Gotkine in Tel Aviv. Well, let's get you up to speed on other
stories that are on our radar right now. There is global diplomatic anger and anger full stop after a Saudi, "Terror court" sentenced women's rights
activist Loujain Hathloul to nearly six years in prison.
She's been held since 2018 while demanding the right to drive. The Saudi government charged her with seeking to change the Saudi political system
and harming national security.
And among the other stories we're looking at, a holiday ski vacation ended abruptly for a group of British tourists in Verbier, Switzerland. An
official says that "Fled in a clandestine fashion under the cover of night after the Swiss government imposed a retroactive quarantine period on UK
travelers". That came in response to the new COVID variant detected in the UK, so they made a run for it there.
The death toll from an avalanche in the mountains in Northern Iran has climbed to 12 people. Rescue officials say the remains of two more mountain
climbers were recovered Sunday. The search and rescue operation is now over. The avalanche was triggered by a blizzard that hit on Friday.
Dotting the, I's and crossing the T's, EU nations give their blessing to the new post-Brexit deal. I'll be talking to a key member of the European
Parliament just ahead. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: Returning now to our top story. An economic lifeline will soon be on the way to millions of Americans after President Donald Trump signed a
Coronavirus relief and government funding bill last night. The nation can use any help it can get in the fight against COVID.
Hospitalizations are near record levels still. In fact, December is already the deadliest month in the pandemic with more than 63,000 people dying from
COVID. One bright spot on the horizon, the vaccines, close to 2 million people have received their first doses so far. Despite that, President-
Elect Joe Biden says the worst days are still ahead and many experts blame the record travel over the Christmas holidays.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: We're really at a very critical point, and if you put more
pressure on the system by what might be a post-seasonal surge because of the traveling and the likely congregating of people for, you know, the good
warm purposes of being together for the holidays.
[11:30:00]
DR. FAUCI: It's very tough for people to not doing that and yet even though we advise not to, it's going to happen so I share the concern of President-
Elect Biden that as we get into the next few weeks it might actually get worse.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Yeah, especially since, of course, this is all lagging. Travel usually precedes an uptick in hospitalizations and infections by a couple
of weeks. And about four hours the president-elect will spell out the biggest national security and foreign policy challenges he expects to
inherit when he takes office.
Joe Johns is standing by in Washington ahead of Biden's speech. So what are we expecting from the president-elect today, Joe?
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Very likely a mixed bag, Hala, and we don't know a lot about what he's going to say, but what we do
know is that agency review teams from the incoming Biden Administration have been going around to the various agencies including the national
security agencies, and there is a concern about some information he might not be getting, and we expect him to have a briefing from those agency
review teams.
One of the concerns is that the Department of Defense may not have been given full information to the incoming administration about that enormous
cyber security hack that has occurred affecting so many agencies around Washington, D.C.
They say, the Biden people do, that they haven't gotten all the information that they need. DOD for their part says they haven't been dragging their
feet, but they will be providing more information, more briefings when January comes after the holidays.
The underlying issue there, of course, is an important one. It's the way the United States deals with Russia. Russia has been accuses of being
behind that cyber attack, and so the question, of course, at the end of the day is going to be how does Joe Biden deal with that, and there are some
other issues, of course.
Some of the things that Donald Trump has pulled out of, including the Paris Climate Accords, the Iran Nuclear Deal, the World Health Organization,
these are all entities that the incoming Biden Administration says they want to go back and reinitiate relationships there, and, of course, that's
-- that's something that Republicans in Washington aren't so sure they want to do.
One bright spot that the Biden people say they want to play on is the successes this Trump Administration has had in the Middle East. They say
they want to build on that, if possible, so hopefully we'll hear more from Joe Biden when he gives that speech in just a few hours, Hala?
GORANI: All right. That will be interesting to hear. Thanks very much, Joe Johns. It's a great light for the Brexit deal. That's the word from the
European Union member states. The agreement on trade and security issues will take provisional effect as the UK and EU welcome 2021 capping a year
of talks, sometimes bitter talks.
The Britain's House of Commons votes on the deal on Wednesday approval are expected. David McAllister heads up the European Parliament's Foreign
Affairs Committee, and its UK coordination group. He joins me now live. He is Parliament's Brexit Commissioner. Thanks for joining us David
McAllister.
First of all, you've started reading, I presume. I don't know you may have finished if you're a speed read the 1,246-page agreement between the UK and
EU. What are your initial thoughts?
DAVID MCALLISTER, CHAIR, UK COORDINATION GROUP, EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: Well, indeed, I had time over Christmas to read the more than 1,200 pages and
what I've read until now and what I understand is that this is a good agreement. It's fair and balanced.
It protects our citizens. It protects our businesses and it protects our long-term economic interests, so that's why I welcome that the member
states are starting to green light the draft agreement.
GORANI: You know, from the UK perspective, I mean, what the Johnson government is saying is that this was a great deal for them but then Brexit
critics in the UK essentially say that Boris Johnson caved on fishing, and he made big concessions at the last minute because the Brexit clock was
ticking. Do you agree with that take, that the UK government made some much bigger concessions than they had promised their citizens?
MCALLISTER: The negotiations were challenging, and this has never happened before, but an EU member state has not only left the European Union but the
single market on the Customs Union and I tried to avoid talking about winners and losers in this game because in the end there are no winners in
this whole Brexit process.
[11:35:00]
MCALLISTER: I deeply regret that the United Kingdom has left the European Union and I deeply regret that this great country will be leaving the
single market and Customs Union on the 1st of January.
GORANI: All right. You won't be drawn into that, but you can agree that essentially a huge chunk of the economy of the United Kingdom and the
European Union is not even covered by this deal. Services, financial services none of that has been established. I saw in the text of the deal
that this is still extremely hazy. What happens with that big, big part of the economy going forward?
MCALLISTER: Decisions have consequences. The United Kingdom has voluntarily decided to leave the single market and the Customs Union. And right from
the beginning we said if you don't accept the full freedoms of the single market things cannot be the same as they have been.
We offered the United Kingdom something we've never offered a third country before, quota-free, tariff-free access to the world's largest single market
for goods but on services things are different especially on financial services and we'll have to sort out our relations at a later stage. But
once again this was all created in the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom is leaving the single market and the Customs Union. We're not kicking them
out. It's the other way around.
GORANI: I get that but what happens on January 1st the UK is out? What happens to access, for instance, banking access from the UK to the EU? What
happens to, you know, people's bank accounts, just ordinary consumers, what happens there if there's no agreement?
MCALLISTER: First of all, this agreement will be provisionally operational from the 1st of January onwards because we in the European Parliament
simply need time to scrutinize the deal. That's why provisional application will be happening for the first couple of weeks in 2021.
This whole process is about mitigating the negative consequences. What happens if the member states leave the Customs Union and the single market?
We tried to minimize the consequences for citizens and businesses on both sides of the channel, and when it comes to financial services we will
continue to negotiate how we can incorporate in a future? At a later stage we're not there yet.
GORANI: So is it the status quo starting January 1st and for financial services and other services?
MCALLISTER: No. The UK, for instance, has lost all its pass-porting rights to deal with in the Euro Zone, but these are all things which the British
side knew what would happen. It is their decision to leave, not the other way around, once again.
GORANI: I've got to ask you about Scotland here because the First Minister, Nicholas Sturgeon, is pushing for independence once again. She is saying
Scotland didn't vote for Brexit. They are being punished. They are not getting any special treatment in the way they believe, that for instance,
Northern Ireland is.
Do you think there is a risk that the UK will break up if enough Scottish people believe that it's in their best interest to be an independent nation
member of the EU rather than attached to the United Kingdom?
MCALLISTER: In 2016 a narrow majority of the British people voted to leave the European Union, but if you have a closer look at what happened in 2016,
indeed two nations of the United Kingdom, England and Wales, voted in favor of leaving the European Union and two nations, Northern Ireland and
Scotland voted to remain.
If you've ever been in Scotland you know that the Scots are very much more pro-European more pro-European Union than for instance the English, but all
this relation between England and Scotland, this is domestic British politics, and this has to be sorted out in the United Kingdom between
London and Edinburgh. The European Union will not want to get dragged into this.
GORANI: All right, okay. Not getting drawn on that question either. David McAllister thanks very much. A member of the European Parliament joining us
from Germany I appreciate it.
Millions of us have felt isolated during the restriction placed on us during this global pandemic but for some women and girls the Coronavirus
lockdowns are threatening their lives literally. We'll show you how some are trying to fight back and that is going to come up for all of us after a
quick break. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:40:00]
GORANI: Well, the pandemic is taking a brutal toll on women and girls already vulnerable to forced marriages and domestic violence. With
lockdowns across the globe, many have no schools, no friends, and no help for an escape route, and they are often trapped with their abuser. Nada
Bashir reports on efforts to reach out to these young women in the UK.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAYZEE MAHMOD, IKWRO CHARITY CAMPAIGNER: Here I was just a normal child and then my life just flipped literally within a day.
[11:45:00]
NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): At just 16 year's old living in the UK, Payzee Mahmod was subjected to a forced marriage.
MAHMOD: It was a horrible time. A big part of me died during those two years.
BASHIR (voice over): Against all odds, she was able to leave her husband and forge a new life. She now campaigns against child marriage and works to
support victims of honor-based abuse. While Payzee's story has been a source of hope for many victims, the fate of her older sister Benaz (ph)
who was killed after leaving an abusive forced marriage is a tragic reminder of the price some women pay for freedom. Five men, including
Benaz's own father, were convicted and jailed for life.
MAHMOD: She went from just like me just being a normal 17-year-old to having that taken away from her and forced into a marriage and then because
she left that marriage essentially that's why she lost her life.
BASHIR (voice over): Almost 15 years have passed since Benaz was killed but the threat of forced marriage and honor-based abuse is still an ongoing
reality for hundreds of women in the UK and like many campaigners Payzee fears that the Coronavirus pandemic has only intensified the problem.
MAHMOD: I very quickly started hearing about the rises in cases and it just terrified me to think that women and girls are now locked in with their
families and their abusers, and they have nowhere to go.
BASHIR (voice over): It's an issue which Freedom Charity Founder Aneeta Prem has been grappling with over the last few months. She says her
organization has seen a spike in -- causes since the beginning of the pandemic and is calling on the government to make sure that victims of
forced marriage have somewhere save to take shelter.
ANEETA PREM, FREEDOM CHARITY FOUNDER: There needs to be a specialist refugee that really focuses on these young girls so we can give them the
best health care and best chance of a full life, get them into education and let their dreams and aspirations come true.
BASHIR (voice over): But with nowhere to go Prem says many young victims have been pushed into near total isolation at home.
PREM: Many are kept as slaves doing absolutely everything for the family. They are not allowed access to the internet and they have no access to the
phone and every moment is controlled. Almost every thought is controlled until they submit and agree to get married.
BASHIR (voice over): The British government told CNN that is a world leader in the fight against forced marriage issuing more than 2,600 protection
orders since the practice was made illegal in 2014. But national Coronavirus restrictions have made it even more difficult for charities to
identify victims.
Government backed charity -- says it recorded a significant drop in referrals over the summer. With 64 percent fewer cases identified by social
services and after the first national lockdown the charity saw a 43 percent increase in victims self referring to the help line with nearly 100 female
victims going on to receive support the youngest just eight years old. For Payzee pure deal of facing a forced marriage during the pandemic is painful
to imagine.
PAYZEE: Thinking of myself living with my family or my husband during a time like this, it scares me to even think of it is such a scary reality
but I know that's one for so many women and girls.
BASHIR (voice over): Whale there are hopes that the country could return to some form of normality over coming months, for some young women it could
already be too late. Nada Bashir, CNN, London.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Still ahead, a look back at some of the biggest stories of 2020, a year most of us will be glad one it's over and that well none of us will
ever forgot either. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:50:00]
GORANI: Welcome back. Just one year ago the term COVID-19 wasn't even on our radar. CNN's Clarissa Ward looks back on the year of the pandemic and
other big moments of 2020.
CLARISSA WARD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's been a year we'll never forget. In 2020 we witnessed world changing paradigm-shifting events all happening
under the cloud of the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's the secret?
WARD (voice over): And CNN was there every step of the way.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was very scared.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is no longer safe.
WARD (voice over): A stretch of bad events started off the year. Wildfires engulfed Australia with apocalyptic scenes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We cannot see the fire, but we can certainly smell it and feel it.
WARD (voice over): Burning up to 73,000 square miles, about the size of the State of South Dakota and killing an estimated 1 billion animals.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is not normal. It's like fires on steroids.
WARD (voice over): Lives were lost and thousands of homes destroyed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A day after claiming that Iran's top commander was planning to attack a U.S. Embassy --
WARD (voice over): The death of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in a U.S. drone strike on January 3rd led to days of terrifying tension between the
U.S. and Iran.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Saying that there would be revenge and there would be some sort of response from the Iranians.
WARD (voice over): Threats of war and Iran's retaliatory attacks on Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was scared at the moment, but it happened and it's something that we were ready for.
WARD (voice over): Just hours after Iran launched that ballistic missile attack on two U.S. military bases in Iraq, a Ukrainian passenger plane was
shut down in Iran killing all 176 people on board.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: New video obtained by CNN seems to show a missile strike as a fast-moving projectile flies across the sky before striking another
object.
WARD (voice over): Well Wolf, CNN has obtained new footage, CC-TV footage that appears to show the dramatic and extraordinary force of the impact as
that Ukrainian airliner slammed into the ground in Tehran.
Meanwhile in China, a strange new virus began to spread, its presence a silent clock counting down to the time that it would bring the world to its
knees.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've got to the grab the scope of this, 20 million people that are what we're talking about.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've noticed a good number of people rushing to this train station, this railway station is located just a few blocks away from
the seafood market, the epicenter, according to health officials of this virus.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Coronavirus is showing no signs of letting up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was back in late December when Lee sent a group message saying that a test result from a patient quarantined at the
hospital where he worked showed a patient had a Coronavirus, but hours after hitting send Wuhan City Health Officials tracked Lee down questioning
where he got the information.
WARD (voice over): Dr. Wen Liang would pay with his life with his bravery. Like thousands of other medical professionals on the front lines all over
the world. Shutdowns followed across the globe. Life as we knew it seem to grind to a halt over night.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For the town of Nembro the month of March was a month of daily death. You just need to look at the death notices here. This woman
died on the 7th of March. This man died on the 8th of March.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Standing here, you don't only see the ferocity of this disease but the silence with which it kills.
WAR (voice over): Empty flights, deserted city centers and cruise ships floating listlessly through the open water, their trapped passengers hoping
in vain for a place to port. The virus made its way around the world like the grim reaper taking victims as it spread its wrath.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was called out last night to dear all gentlemen it was his wife of many years of past do I.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This video shows patience lying on floor at a Madrid hospital.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These are body. And if just watching the video is difficult imagine going through those containers in person looking for your
dad's body.
WAR (voice over): On March 11th the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic.
[11:55:00]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pandemic is not a word to use lightly.
WARD (voice over): By then life as we knew it already long gone. Millions across the world living for months under strict lockdowns to try to stop
the spread of the virus, face masks became a familiar sight and social distancing a way of life.
In early August Lebanon was struck by a massive deadly explosion sparked by the detonation of thousands of tons of ammonium nitrate killing more than
170 people and injuring more than 6,000 others.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is where CNN's office used to be.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Something of this magnitude, so unnecessary. This has pushed the rage felt by the Lebanese population to unprecedented level.
WARD (voice over): In 2020 CNN exclusively exposed a factory in Ghana backed by Russia that was actively aiming to influence the 2020 U.S.
Presidential Election.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let me tell you, Anderson, it's not where you might have expected it to be.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the compound where the operation has been based. There's no sign for an NGO. We're about an hour outside of the city.
WARD (voice over): And to CNN Bellingcat Investigation identified Russian FSB operatives who trailed Putin's nemesis Alexei Navalny before he was
poisoned.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I get out of this classroom and turn over to the flight attendant and said I was poisoned. I'm going to die.
WARD (voice over): After a difficult spring fighting the COVID-19 pandemic most of Europe opened back up for the summer but despite the short respite
in the summer months the virus back with a vengeance in the fall and winter in Europe.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We think the German are doing now is putting a stricter lockdown in place a lot earlier than anybody would have thought.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A troubling headline coming from the UK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Worry growing over a new COVID variant.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The implications of this new variant that could be 70 percent more infectious but not more deadly in the UK are growing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: French border is closed. All day long we've seen these police officers in high-vis jackets turning these 18 wheelers that you see
behind me around with their goods.
WARD (voice over): Worldwide Coronavirus cases hit 73 million in December. There were 16.5 million in the United States alone and more than 1 million
deaths globally. A uniting global goal in 2020 a vaccine and by December we saw the first approved vaccines administered.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let the mass immunization program begin 90-year-old Margaret Keenan making history as the first person in England and indeed
the world to receive the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine outside a trial.
WARD (voice over): A moment of all 2021 would be the beginning of the end of a pandemic that spares no one. Clarissa Ward, CNN.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Thanks for watching. I'm Hala Gorani more news after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: A disgrace. He demanded changes and during that time, he let unemployment benefits run out for millions.
END
